I have to say that throughout last week’s actions in DC, when Dan Choi, Jim Pietrangelo and Robin McGeHee were arrested, the strangest part of the whole thing was the consistent criticism of Kathy Griffin. I don’t have a problem with the criticism of Joe Solomnese (and that’s said with nothing intended, as I haven’t seen footage of what actually happened between him and Choi. I’ll note, however, that in the attached video, Choi makes a statement which seems to be, at least in terms of manners, an alliance with Solomnese when he says "We are on the same team", but again, I could be mis-interpreting that…), but what’s the deal with the negative missiles hurled at Kathy Griffin? For anyone asleep, Kathy Griffin is one of the loudest and most public defenders of LGBT civil rights in this nation. She had a planned event in DC which she used to discuss the inequities of DADT, which she will later re-broadcast on her Emmy award winning, highly rated television show which, by the way, reaches millions of people.
Yet after she spoke in DC, after she invited Dan Choi to the podium to speak (after, by all accounts, Joe Solomnese of the Human Rights Campaign refused to do…), she’s been decried over and over on the internet and called out specifically by Choi and McGehee, both stating that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell "is not a joke".
So let’s get this straight…because Kathy uses humor to reach millions of people, in an effort to bring about change to the discriminatory policy of DADT, she’s to be criticized? And can anyone actually say that Griffin truly believes that DADT is a joke? Or that, for that matter, ANY AMERICAN believes DADT is a joke? Come on.
If there’s one ugly aspect to LGBT activists in this nation, it’s the fact that their way is the ONLY way. Why is it that when others are working, in their own way, to their own audience, to create change, some activists feel compelled to denounce them for it?
Kathy Griffin believes strongly in the civil rights of LGBT Americans and proves that on her television show and in her personal life, consistently. Barney Frank believes it as well, but he was, and continues to be, denounced by a portion of the LGBT community simply because he expressed an opinion. An opinion, mind you, in support of the same end result as those who criticized him.
